


andromeda

by mekii



Category: I.O.I (Band), IZONE (Band), Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band), X1 (Korea Band)
Genre: (okay one dies but still), Angst, Beauty and the Beast Elements, Character Death, Curses, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-06-26 17:20:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19772890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mekii/pseuds/mekii
Summary: Ong Seongwu is cursed and intends to stay that way. After all, to get rid of his curse, he'd have to kill the one he loves the most. Stuck in a castle, he never thought he'd have to worry about falling in love, and yet...No one knows for sure why the Cursed Prince from the legend is always associated with stars, but the most popular explanation says that, like a star, his fall will make someone's wish comes true. After living half of his life in the body of a beast, Kang Daniel is desperate enough to give it a try.Falling in love hurts, especially when one dies at the end.





	andromeda

**Author's Note:**

> andromeda is a big project that i separated into two parts: "The Curse of the Rose" and "The Fall of the Crown". they're not really a story and its sequel so i didn't post andromeda as a series, but i'll probably take a break after finishing the first part to focus on school (but i WILL finish andromeda, i already have something written for the end and everything is planned so don't worry about that hiatus, it will have a end).
> 
> english isn't my first language so i apologize for any mistake, i won't feel offended if you tell me you found one <3 also, this story has castles and all that stuff (i don't know exactly when it happens, but it's in a world with magic and all so i guess it's not ours), but my english skills aren't good enough for me to write with the "old english" so... i guess "normal" english will have to do
> 
> i hope you'll like this story!

Seongwu hates guests. Well, not his cousin, because Chungha is amazing and always plays with him. But the others? He hates them, hates them so much he wishes he could just disappear and hide from them.

Having guests means his parents bragging about how handsome their young son is while he does nothing except smile and agree with everything they say. Having guests means staying still all day, because running makes it harder to see his face and playing makes him dirty. Having guests means wishing they’d leave earlier so he’d finally go back to Eunbi, because he can’t be seen with the knight’s daughter since she’s not royalty.

Having guests is suffocating and he hates it.

After years of watching her friend suffer, Eunbi finally decides to do something. The little girl drags him through the hallways, the castle’s staff pretending they don’t see them. Everyone knows how much the young prince hates pretending to be the perfect statue his parents see instead of the energetic, kind boy who brings a smile to everyone’s face—well, when they care enough to listen to what he has to say.

“Where are we going?” he asks.

She grins. “We’re hiding! I’m your knight in shining armour!”

Seongwu giggles, his hand in hers. He has nothing against playing the damsel in distress if it means running away from hell, even if it’s only before someone finds them.

The castle is so big Seongwu isn’t surprised when Eunbi brings him to a balcony he never saw before. She leaves him there with a book, announcing she’s going back to get Chungha. Seongwu can’t read, but the book has drawings in it. His friend returns about half an hour later, bringing some food probably cooked by her mother. With a mother in charge of the kitchens, it’s easy to “steal” food.

“Seongwu!” Chungha runs to him for a hug as soon as she sees him. It’s a bit offensive how she’s taller than her cousin even though she’s younger, but he doesn’t lose hope. One day, he’ll be taller than her.

“I missed you,” and he only realizes how much when he hugs her back and almost refuses to let go.

“Eunbi already explained everything to me. I’m sorry.”

They sit on the floor, Chungha taking his book from his hands. She’s learning how to read, but isn’t good enough to teach him. She promised to help him once she’ll be good enough. For now, he’s fine with sitting next to her while she reads to him. Chungha’s voice is beautiful, warmer than his mother’s… not that she reads him anything.

“Don’t be, it’s not your fault. I just wish my parents could be more like yours.”

Chungha’s parents are proud of their daughter, but never treated her like a doll. Sometimes, Seongwu feels like his parents see him as a statue: pretty, never talks or moves.

“Maybe we should talk about something else,” Eunbi suggests when she sees Seongwu’s expression. “Princess? Is there anything worth talking about in your kingdom?”

“Nothing I know of, but my parents gave me a dance teacher. She’s amazing, I hope you’ll visit our castle soon so you can meet her.”

Seongwu starts playing with Chungha’s hair, trying to braid them like Eunbi usually does.

“Oh, I’m learning something too! Well, it’s nothing like dancing, but my father finally accepted to teach me how to fight. I can’t tell anyone, a girl’s hand shouldn’t hold a sword, but I trust you to keep it secret.”

“We won’t tell a soul,” Seongwu promises, then sighs. His braid looks nothing like Eunbi’s. “I wish I had a teacher too, it would give me something to do.”

Chungha frowns, and something tells him it’s not because of the mess he did with her hair. “I hope I’m not being disrespectful, but isn’t it weird how the King’s only son isn’t learning anything… Seongwu, aren’t you supposed to be King?”

Seongwu’s hands freeze. He never thought about it. Yes, he’s supposed to be King, but… how can he take care of a kingdom when he doesn’t know anything?

“My Prince, that’s not how you’re supposed to do it,” Eunbi quickly undoes Chungha’s braid. “I would not worry about this, I’m sure the King has his reason. Maybe His Highness thinks you’re still too young to learn how to rule a kingdom, maybe your sister will take the throne since she’s older than you.”

“That’s unlikely, a woman wouldn’t be allowed to rule on her own.”

The three children keep quiet for a while as Eunbi tries to teach Seongwu how to make a decent braid. From the balcony, they can see servants running, probably to find them. When one of them looks up and sees them, she pushes her hands in front of her until they realize what she means and move closer to the wall. Seongwu tries to remember her face so he can make sure to thank her later.

Then, the son of an advisor finds them and alerts his father. When the night falls, Seongwu escapes from his room (with the help of the knights guarding it) and treats Eunbi’s back, covered by red thanks to the whip that was used to punish her. She refuses to let him apologize: if she had to, she’d do it again.

He knows it’ll happen again, so he promises to get better at hiding.

*

_10 years later…_

“Chaeyeon, the crown!”

“Which one are you talking to?”

Jieqiong rolls her eyes. “It doesn’t matter, I just need the crown!”

Seongwu chuckles. No matter how often it happens, he always finds it funny when people get confused because of the two servants who share a name. Today, Lee Chaeyeon is more distracted than ever, probably because of the young painter who’s supposed to arrive soon.

Jung is the one who hands Jieqiong the crown, glaring at the Lee with a hint of fondness in her eyes. Seongwu bends his knees to help the woman put the crown on his head, a thing he’d never do in front of his parents. Smaller than the King’s crown, his isn’t heavy despite being made of gold and decorated with blue topazes. His father’s has sapphires, but Seongwu prefers a lighter blue.

“Ladies, I think we’re done!” Jieqiong announces after more than an hour of work. “This always takes so long, I have better things to do… sorry, Se— Your Royal Highness.”

“No offense taken, Jieqiong, and I’m sure the Chaeyeons will keep their mouth shut if you call me by my name.”

“Only if I get to call you Seongwu too,” Jung Chaeyeon argues, with the fearless smirk she usually shows him.

He laughs at his servant’s boldness, but his happiness quickly fades away when Jieqiong announces it’s time to join the others in the ballroom. God, he hates those boring parties.

“My Prince? We have to go,” Lee Chaeyeon repeats, voice as soft as her hands as she leads him to the door.

“Go find your lover,” he says instead of telling her he really doesn’t want to leave the comfort of his room. “I know you miss her.”

He has to spend the night at a party he doesn’t want to be at, but he’d like to make sure the people he cares about don’t feel trapped like he does. Chaeyeon’s loved one is from another kingdom and they don’t see each other often, so he thought it’d be a good idea to ask his father for her. Miyawaki Sakura’s talent is known, it was easy to find a reason to send her an invitation.

The celebration is as boring as he remembers. Still, he smiles through the pain and talks to everyone. No one seems to mind his ignorance on pretty much everything yet he can’t help but feel embarrassed when he fails to answer questions about his kingdom. Luckily, Chungha is there to save him and refuses to move away from his side after she finally finds him in the crowd. Like everyone, she’s dressed in yellow, the colour of Seongwu’s kingdom, but with purple ribbons reminding everyone she’s from the Kim Kingdom.

“Dance with me,” she demands as soon as she notices another group walking in their direction. “If I have to see another fake smile on your face, I doubt I’ll be able to resist punching some duke in the face.”

“He wasn’t that bad, cousin,” Seongwu argues but still takes her hand. He’s finally taller than her.

Seongwu isn’t an awful dancer, but he definitely isn’t the best. After being rejected again and again, he stopped asking his parents for classes and decided to learn things on his own. Eunbi helped when she could, but the knight’s daughter has responsibilities of her own, so he still lacks practice. Chungha never complains and even manages to make both of them look graceful as they dance. With her help, he escapes from most boring conversations until he hears a scream for help.

There’s a teenager—he definitely isn’t an adult— standing in the doorway, carrying another boy on his back. For a second, Seongwu wonders how such a small person managed to carry someone taller than them, then he sees how the other’s cheeks are hollow, how his skin stick to his bones. He’s starving, dying of hunger, and Seongwu’s heart hurts when he remembers not even finishing his last meal.

“Please! Please, my friend is dying, we need food,” the boy begs, eyes searching for what he needs.

Seongwu’s eyes meet Eunbi’s and she’s gone, running to the kitchen. The food they have in the room will only make the boy sick if he’s starving. He moves in the teenagers’ direction, but his father raises a hand and a guard stops him.

“Please! Your people are dying, there’s not enough food to feed all of us…”

The boy goes quiet as he finally looks around him. People dressed in expensive clothes and covered in jewelry, eating the tastiest food and drinking the finest wine, all that in a castle decorated with gold. Seongwu feels sick. His people are dying in the streets and he’s there celebrating his birthday… god, they could have saved lives with the resources they chose to waste on something as superficial as a birthday party.

“What is this?” His voice is shaking with anger. “We are starving. We go to bed with an empty stomach. We are dying, and here you are, spending all that gold on _him_?”

Seongwu doesn’t even feel offended by the disdain in the teenager’s voice. His cheeks are on fire and his eyes refuse to leave the floor. His people are _dying_ and he didn’t even know.

Even worse, they’re dying because of him.

“Father, can’t we feed them? We have more than enough—”

“Shh, son. You are worth more than he’ll ever be, you can not let a peasant tell you what to do.”

_This can’t be real._ “Father, I am not offering because he asked, I believe it is the right thing to do.”

His father can’t let a child die simply because they’re not of royal blood, this can’t be real. Seongwu looks at his mother for help, but she’s not even listening. A hand wrapped around a glass made of crystal, she seems to enjoy her wine. It suddenly hits him how superficial his parents are.

Chungha’s hands tighten around his arm and she calmly reminds him how to breathe.

For the first time of the night, his sister steps out of the shadows.

“Father, they’re dying! Seongwu is right, we have to—”

“Silence!” the King roars, shutting down all conversations in the room. “We do not _have_ to do anything for mere peasants.”

The teenager’s eyes are on fire. “This mere peasant is worth more than all of you heartless monsters. How dare you waste gold on festivities when you’re ruining your kingdom—”

“Oh, spare me the drama, little one,” the Queen hiccups, spilling wine on her dress that probably costed enough gold to feed a whole village. “My son’s face is worth an entire kingdom, none of this went to waste. We are royalty, you are _nothing_.”

And the Queen, drunk with alcohol and power, takes a gun from a guard and shoots the friend.

Seongwu’s ears are ringing and he thinks he’s about to throw up. His face. He thinks of his childhood, of how his parents treated him, and the realisation they always cared about his face more than anything—Seongwu himself included—is brutal. The light in his parents’ eyes that shine whenever they look at him isn’t love, it’s madness.

The boy drops his friend’s body to the floor, eyes wide open and mouth agape. Seongwu wants nothing more than to run to them and somehow heal the child like he healed Eunbi for all these years, but he knows a corpse can’t be healed. There’s blood everywhere, and it’s all because of him.

For what seems like an hour, he can only hear the Queen’s laughter and the boy’s heavy breathing.

Then, he starts to laugh too.

It’s not a pretty laugh. It’s ugly, like the Queen’s, angry and tainted by madness. It promises bad things are coming.

“Sure, sure, the Prince’s face is a treasure! Pretty enough to make people lose their sanity, as it seems!” The boy’s hands are glowing, pink light like in the fairy tales Chungha used to read when the cousins were children. “From now on, consider it a promise.”

Seongwu doesn’t understand what’s going on, no one seems to, except Chungha. The young woman pushes him away, takes a ribbon off her dress and covers her eyes with it.

“Eye for an eye, the laws of magic allow me to punish you. For causing my beloved’s death, I curse Ong Seongwu. Pretty as a rose, its thorns will make him deadly, your fall will be caused by his beauty.”

It’s stupid and the rhymes aren’t even good, but Seongwu closes his eyes when the teenager raises his hands. He waits, waits and waits, and nothing seems different. Relieved, he opens his eyes and sees his mother shoot herself, yelling it’s not worth living knowing she’ll never be as beautiful as him. The teenager is nowhere to be seen and his friend’s body disappeared with him.

In a second, everyone who looks at his face loses their sanity, as the visitor promised. Blood splatters on the walls and Seongwu finally throws up.

“No one,” a man groans, eyes completely white, “should be this beautiful.”

It seems like his birthday is a day for a lot of first times. For example, someone running towards him with a sword. Seongwu can’t move, but a guard can. He throws his helmet at him, revealing a familiar face—and it’s a _she_ , Nayoung, smart enough to close her left eye so she doesn’t see him.

“Cover your face and run,” she hisses through clenched teeth as she stabs her own father. She makes sure her back is facing him—good, he can’t lose her, he can’t lose Nayoung too—but he knows her cheeks are wet with tears.

The prince obeys, taking Chungha’s hand to guide her after making sure the other stays on her improvised blindfold to keep it in place. It takes them less than five minutes to reach his room and he slams the door behind them, only allowing himself to break down in tears once he’s sure it’s locked.

Ten years later, Seongwu is still awful at hiding, but he’s better at running away.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! please leave a kudo or a comment, they help me write <3


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